The Time Travel Differentiation
by Elphaba27
Summary: Sheldon Cooper has always loved the idea of time travel. Now, the moment is here. All of humanity is open to him and yet, all he can think of is Amy Farrah Fowler, the girl who has turned his life upside down. A sappy, Shamy story takes place across the years as he uses time to change everything.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Time travel had always been fevered dream for Doctor Sheldon Cooper. He often watched Doctor Who and wondered what it would be like if he could time travel one day. Where would he go? What would he do? Would he meet some future version of himself? Would that future version of himself finally have a Nobel Prize? For the longest of time, it was impossible to see a day where Sheldon could gift the world with his genius and bestow to the plebeians time travel. Now, it was staring him in the face and it was all because of him.

That would be wrong. In technicality, Leonard had been the one to propose the idea of how to access time and make it able to be travelled through. Sheldon, as per usual, was the one who had been able to turn Leonard's hypothesis into a reality. It was because of Sheldon that he and Leonard were standing in Caltech's lab on a Saturday, debating on testing what they had worked tirelessly on for months.

"I can't believe that this is happening," Leonard said, his voice shaking with excitement.

Even Sheldon could not help but smile. This was exciting. "Yes! This is my ticket for the Nobel Prize, I just feel it." Sheldon replied.

Leonard shot a look of disproval at Sheldon, but he couldn't blame him either. "Maybe I will go back and tell my mother that I am part of the reason that time travel is possible. That would shut her up." Leonard said.

"Are you telling me that you want to be the one who tests it? What about Penny?" Sheldon asks, fake concern running through his voice.

Leonard glares at Sheldon. "I could say the same thing about you. What about Amy? Last time I checked, Amy tried to beat me mercilessly with our couch pillow when you ran away on your stupid train excursion." Leonard rubbed his arm, remembering. "It hurt too."

Sheldon shook his head. "We have a segment of the relationship agreement for such a thing. We can only put ourselves in danger in such a way if a Nobel Prize would be on the other side of it."

"Surely Amy wouldn't do that." Leonard muttered.

Sheldon smirked. "Of course she wouldn't. She didn't think I would either, but that is the beauty of the relationship agreement. Things tend to work in my favor."

Leonard didn't bother to point out to Sheldon how much of a jerk he would be to not even confront Amy about such a life altering idea. Leonard sighed in resignation. "You know what Sheldon, go ahead. Go test it out."

Sheldon was so happy that he almost hugged his roommate. "I guess we should start warming up the machine." Sheldon whispered.

The following thirty minutes were filled with tense commands between the two, though they didn't show how nervous they truly were. They had no definitive way to prove their calculations were correct until Sheldon came back alive, safe, and hopefully a tad more humble.

Finally, the machine was warmed up and ready to go. Sheldon climbed into the chamber and looked at the control board, filled with twinkling, indicative lights and switches.

"Sheldon," Leonard called, walking up the machine.

"Yes?"

"Take care, okay buddy? Give me a sign if you can that you are okay?" Leonard looked at his roommate: his gigantic pain in the ass roommate with sincerity.

Sheldon nodded. "Of course. " Sheldon climbed out of the machine to give Leonard a tentative hug. Sheldon knew he was going to be fine, but something deep within him knew that he should try to be humble, just in case.

Sheldon climbed into the machine and looked at the keyboard where he could type in the date he wanted to travel to. He knew exactly where he wanted to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Sheldon Cooper had initially thought of sending the time machine back to the date of his birth. It was truly the only day in the history of his life that he didn't remember and it would make for a great news article for when he won a Nobel Prize. Sheldon could picture telling a news reporter of how the hospital room was thick with the aura of his genius. It seemed like a brilliant plan until Sheldon remembered how much he did not care for his sister, Missy's birth. On multiple occasions, he wanted to pass out and the knowledge that he would faint on the floor covered with her amniotic fluid was enough to make him flee to the other room. 

Sheldon thought of what Leonard was saying earlier "What about Amy?" Leonard's voice echoed in Sheldon's head. What about her? He could imagine telling her of this and her giving a look of disapproval. Sheldon was never great at reading people's facial expressions, but something felt wrong.

"I'm in the right on this. I always am," Sheldon thought. She had no reason to be upset, so why was Amy's grimaced face all he could picture?

No: this moment was his (and Leonard's, but he didn't want to think about that) and he wanted to prove it to himself—he needed to prove it to himself.

Typing in a date, Sheldon was instantaneously transported to the roof of his apartment building. Sheldon stood in awe as he looked around at what his neighborhood looked like 7 years ago. "Remarkable," Sheldon thought as he made a mental note of his surroundings and the nature of his arrival.

There was no time to dawdle though. Glancing at the time machine, Sheldon walked to the edge of the building and climbed over the fire escape. Panic filled his stomach, but Sheldon pushed through it. He knew the rules of time travel: he couldn't change anything. If he were to do anything, it would taint whatever future he was supposed to have.

"What a bummer too," Sheldon thought. "If I could just go into my apartment and tell past me about this discovery, I would be so much closer to a Nobel Prize already."

Lowering himself down the ladder, Sheldon arrived at his living room. He could see himself eating dinner with Raj, Howard, Leonard, and Penny. Sheldon examined the group, noticing the disgruntled looks upon everyone else's faces, except for the former version of him. He seemed almost giddy, laughing at whatever Howard had just said.

"I don't understand," Sheldon thought. This was the exact moment in which his group had started talking about the possibility of time travel. Why did no one seem happy? Sheldon could understand Penny's boredom, but why were her eyes so murderous? Sheldon watched as he berated Howard and Leonard for thinking that they could somehow solve the mystery of time travel. Everyone in the room looked at him with murderous eyes now.

In a moment though, it was gone. As fast as Sheldon's trip to the past was, the vibe of the room completely changed. His friends were laughing and talking, while Sheldon poked at his food absently. "Surely someone will say something to me," Sheldon thought to no avail. He knew everything that was happening. They were talking about how Raj couldn't talk to women. It was such a drastic change of conversation that at the time, Sheldon had merely disregarded it. Now, Sheldon realized that they had purposely steered the conversation as to block Sheldon out.

"This can't be right," Sheldon thought. He was a delight. Sheldon knew that he was quirky fellow and that the things that he said could often be construed negatively. Yet, looking into this window, he actually felt discomfort at how he caused such a negative reaction from his closest friends. What bothered Sheldon more was looking at the apathetic expression on his former self's face. He didn't seem to care at all that his friends were excluding him, nor at what he had done. All he did was pick at his Chinese food.

Sheldon climbed back up the ladder and into the time machine. This felt wrong. His purpose in coming here was to reaffirm that he was right in making this discovery, in carrying out with the testing of this. Looking into that room though, Sheldon realized that the balance of the group felt strange without Amy. No wonder he had been picking at his food absently, there was no one in that room that he felt was his intellectual equal.

"I need to do something about this," Sheldon whispered aloud. Sheldon took one last look at the sunny sky that overlooked Pasadena before typing in a date and vanishing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

In a blink of an eye, Sheldon had returned to the lab at Caltech; he was back in the present. His decision to come back was to first, assure Leonard that he was indeed fine, and two, to figure out what he needed to do next. Though Leonard had a far simpler mind than Sheldon's, his little buddy often excelled when it came to matters of the heart. Then again, most people excelled more than Sheldon when it came to matters of the heart. For example, he realized that even though he was not the same version of himself from then, he could still sense the look of rage on his friends faces from time to time.

Sheldon looked around the room, but could not see Leonard. "Surely he wouldn't have gone home without me," Sheldon thought. "He's my ride home, regardless of whether I am time travelling."

As if on cue, Leonard came back into the lab. Shock spread upon his face as he took note of his roommate's return.

"You're safe." Leonard said with a huge grin.

Sheldon nodded. "Yes, I am. It seems we have truly solved the issue of time travel."

Leonard took note of his roommate's disposition. Something had to be wrong. He could sense the aura of discontent from the bathroom before he walked back into the lab.

"Sheldon, did something happen?" Leonard asked tentatively.

"Yes, something did. I went back in time to the day when our group first talked about the possibility of time travel and what science would be involved to make it possible. Do you remember that day?"

Leonard looked at him quizzically. "No, when was it?"

"Eight years ago," Sheldon replied, his voice dead pan.

Now Leonard looked at him like he was insane. "No, I don't remember that at all."

Sheldon rolled his eyes at Leonard, but couldn't blame him. Not everyone could have a remarkable brain like him. "Well we did, it was only for a short amount of time, and then the conversation died."

Leonard couldn't help but wonder where this was going. "I'm sure you said something along the lines of how no one would be good enough to actually solve the scientific issues related to time travel."

"I did!" Sheldon exclaimed, "But that's not the point, Leonard. Something about my visit is troubling me." When Leonard didn't reply, Sheldon continued. "I went back in time to assure myself that my ambition was sound and that I shoudn't be upset that I was testing this and putting my own personal wellbeing at risk, without telling Amy. I thought that if I could go back a time when my mind was clear of emotional connection I could look at this objectively."

"And now that you've seen how you were before you learned to be a real boy, you're not quite sure you feel like you can get away with being selfish towards Amy?"

"Exactly! What should I do?" Sheldon asked, grateful that his roommate understood his precarious situation.

Leonard sighed. "I don't know, learn how to be a real boy?"

"Be serious, Leonard. You're the reason why I'm in this situation." Sheldon snapped.

"Well Sheldon, you could do one of two things. The first would be just telling Amy about today. The second thing would be if you want to do this alone, then you could see how your ambition affects Amy—like a beta test. At least then you'll know what to expect when you finally do tell her."

Sheldon gasped. "That's perfect!"

"Wait, what is?" Leonard asked, watching as his roommate scrambled into the time machine.

"I'm going to go back in time and do a beta test." Sheldon answered with excitement evident in his voice. Noticing that his roommate was eyeing him skeptically, Sheldon added "Don't you dare leave me before I get back."

With that, Sheldon disappeared. Leonard looked at the clock: it was past 8 pm. With a sigh, Leonard muttered: "This is going to be a long Saturday night."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

It only took a fraction of second for Sheldon to reappear on the rooftop of his apartment building, though it was not how he had left it. Granted, it was not the same year. As Sheldon peered out window of the time machine, Sheldon noticed how time had changed his building. The edges of the building were slightly worn from rainfall; the paint job on the door way was slightly faded and a bit grimy. Was that a bird nest in one of the corners of the building?

A shiver went through Sheldon as he peered at the bird nest: the cradle of evil. "It's time to go do this," Sheldon thought as he opened the door to his apartment building. Sheldon had to keep focus though for this beta test would change the nature of how he handled telling Amy of his experiments when he returned to the present. There would be time to plot the demise of that dreaded bird nest when he was back in the present.

The day that he had chosen for this beta test was the day that Amy had learned of his application to be a part of the colonization to Mars project. He had thought that this would emulate his current situation nicely. As he recalled, things had turned out in his favor, eventually as well.

"Amy, wait!" His own voiced called and suddenly Sheldon was aware that he had to start moving. He started racing down the stair case until he saw his former self standing in front of Amy. Being careful to not to show himself fully, Sheldon peaked around the corner of the stair case. As Sheldon gazed at Amy, he found himself in awe at her beauty that shined, despite her anger at him. He examined the look of distress in her eye, wishing that he could hold her and tell her it would all be fine.

"Getting a turtle meant a great deal to me too," his past self said.

"Sure, unless something better comes along." Amy retorted. Amy turned around to leave.

"Do you want me to withdraw my application?" Sheldon asked, the desperation creeping into his voice. Any version of Sheldon hated to watch Amy leave distressed.

She turned around with a look of sadness in her eye. Sheldon hadn't noticed it when he was in the midst of the conversation, but now that he could look at her, he could see tears wanting to build to her eyes. "What I want is for us to be planning our future together." She answered.

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Sheldon remembered how confused he had been when Amy had said those words. He had been so unsure of how to proceed.

"In that future, are we on the same planet?" His former self had asked naively. Sheldon shook his head. Amy gave him an incredulous look and Sheldon couldn't help but do the same.

"I've seen people make the long distance thing work," His former self continued, unaware of the anger that was returning to Amy's countenance.

"We are on the same planet!" Amy snapped.

Another moment of silence passed between the two. Sheldon watched as Amy shook her head at him. He wondered what she was thinking. He knew that a small amount of fear was building within his past self.

"Does that planet have to be Earth?" Sheldon's voice was almost a whisper.

Amy looked at him incredulously. "Are you asking me to go to Mars with you?"

"Well, if I am going to a bare, lifeless planet, where the chances are slim to none, I want you with me." Sheldon answered.

Without hesitation, Amy gave him a hug. Sheldon remembered how warm that hug was, how the smell of her dandruff shampoo caught him in an almost entranced way. He never wanted that hug to end. "Why don't we go back up to the apartment and fill out your application."

Though Sheldon wanted to continue to listen to the conversation, he knew he couldn't stay. It was only a matter of seconds before they would start to walk upstairs, conversing on how wonderful it would be if they had children on Mars and how they would truly be Martians. Sheldon had to go, quickly. In a sprint, Sheldon ran back upstairs until he was back on the roof and in the time machine.

"Well that didn't go as planned." Sheldon thought. In fact, Sheldon was beginning to think that perhaps he wasn't making the best of decisions today. He had thought that going back in time the first time would strengthen his resolve, yet it didn't. Now, here he was again, and the same thing had happened. Of course Amy wouldn't have wanted Sheldon to possibly leave her on Earth. Dread filled Sheldon, for he knew what realization was beginning to dawn on him. "She would want to know about this."

As he started to tune the time machine back to the present day, he stopped, another realization hitting him square in the face. "This is why we broke up," he whispered. He hadn't understood it for the longest time, even after they reunited. There was always a missing piece. He had thought the breakup was about intimacy, but maybe there was more.

"I've been selfish, no wonder she left me." He thought. Suddenly, the idea of telling Amy about all of this seemed repellant. He couldn't bare the idea of Amy's face contorting in anger, of her eyes displaying the level of sadness that he had seen in the hallway. 

"I can fix this," he said aloud, struck with a new idea. Tuning the time machine to a different date, Sheldon knew that what he was about to do would break the rules, yet he didn't care. In a flash, he disappeared yet again.

 **Well everyone, I hope you have enjoyed this thus far. I am sorry I haven't been updating too frequently. I have been insanely busy. I hope that you all will continue reading though. Thanks.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

 **Hi everyone! I wanted to give a quick apology for the wait from the last chapter. There's been a ton going on on my end. But please though, enjoy.**

When Sheldon appeared in the year of 2012, he wasn't the slightest bit surprised when he appeared in the alley behind the Cheesecake Factory. He was finding that he it was becoming increasingly difficult to decipher which things he should be surprised by. Plus, Sheldon was on a mission.

Racing around the alley, Sheldon ducked into the Cheesecake Factory. Instantly, he eyed himself sitting at the bar, gulping down a series of Long Island teas. A shiver went down Sheldon's spine as he remembered the thorough vomiting that would ensue a few hours from then, how his mouth tasted like alcohol the next day, despite brushing his teeth numerous times.

"Can I get you a table?" The hostess asked, breaking Sheldon's train of thought.

"Um, sure. Can I sit over there?" Sheldon asked, pointing at the vacant section of booths that was separate from the rest of the mass of tables.

"That section is closed." the hostess said coolly.

"I'm the customer though, I'm always right." Sheldon replied smugly. "Plus, I'm not ordering anything. I'm just keeping an eye on a friend."

The hostess shrugged. "Do whatever you want." With that, the waitress rolled her eyes and walked away.

Sheldon walked over to the empty set of booths and sat down, hoping no one would see him. "I just hope that the hostess has as bad of a memory as Penny does." Sheldon thought.

Moving closer, Sheldon sat where he could hear the conversation he was having with Penny.

"You might want to pace yourself." Penny stated as she watched Sheldon gulp down a Long Island tea. Sheldon nodded in agreement. There were so few moments in which Penny was right about something and he had wished that he had the forethought to think it was possible.

"I drink tea all the time. I think I know what I'm doing." His former self replied.

"Look, Sheldon, your problem is not Wil Wheaton, okay? It's the way you treated Amy."

"My problem is that I'm out of tea."

"Come on, someone insulted your girlfriend and you just let him do it. I thought you Texas guys stood up for your womenfolk."

"Penny, please, I think I've evolved beyond my simple, rustic upbringing."

"Sorry." As Sheldon looked at Penny, he could see the frustrating building in her face.

"On the other hand, that low-down polecat done wronged my woman." Past Sheldon stated.

"Welcome to Long Island Tex." Penny said with a chuckle.

"Amy deserves better. You know, when we buy the Planter's deluxe mix, she eats all of the Brazil nuts so I don't have to look at them. She's a unique blend of saint and squirrel."

Penny looked at Sheldon curiously. "Yeah, that she is. Here you go," she said, handing him another Long Island tea.

"I'm a callous egomaniac. She's going to leave me," his now drunken self replied.

"No, she won't" Penny replied soothingly.

"No, she won't. I'm great." Sheldon said.

Sheldon turned away from the scene, for he knew what would happen shortly. In the next 10 minutes he would continue to joke with Penny before gathering the courage to leave to go beat up Wil Wheaton. "I need to get out of here." Sheldon thought, gathering his jacket and ducking back outside. Shortly, his past self walked out of the Cheesecake Factory.

"Hey!" Sheldon called to him, and his past self turned around.

"I don't understand what is going on." Past Sheldon instantly stated.

"Come with me," Sheldon replied, gesturing towards the alley way.

"I don't understand how this is possible though."

"This," Sheldon said, as they rounded the corner to where the time machine was.

"D-did you do this?" Past Sheldon stuttered.

"I did, with Leonard. Look, I'm here for a reason though." Sheldon stated but his drunk self was not paying any attention to him. He was looking giddily at the machinery. "It's about Amy!" Sheldon exclaimed.

Sheldon looked up from the machinery and at his future self. "What about her?" He asked.

"You need to get your act together." He answered.

"You get your act together. Why should I change?"

"Because you actually do lose her." Sheldon replied, trying to keep his emotions under control. Having to communicate with this drunken form of himself was irritating him to the point that he never wanted to have a drink again.

"What?"

"You lose Amy because you're callous and an egomaniac who doesn't pay enough attention to her." His voice started strong, but his emotions started to catch up to him quickly. "It's the worst thing we have gone through thus far."

Former Sheldon looked at his future self, noticing the pain that started to flood his eyes. "Do you get back together?"

"Yes, and we're happy now. Look, I know this is uncomfortable. Surely, I know better than anyone. It is hard for us to show how we truly feel, but so much of this could have been avoided if we tried more." Sheldon answered.

"Does it start with me beating up Wil Wheaton?" His former self wondered?

Sheldon shook his head. "This is pointless," he thought. "Yes, it starts with you beating up Wil Wheaton."

"Well good." And he turned to leave. And with that, Sheldon turned to leave.

"Don't tell anyone I was here!" Sheldon exclaimed and his past self turned around, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he gave Sheldon a funny look, as if trying to decide whether Sheldon and his time machine were real. After a few moments, he turned around and walked away.

For the first time since Sheldon began his time travelling, he had no clue what to do. Climbing back into the time machine, he sat there deep in thought before typing in a date and disappearing once more.


End file.
